http://mmajunkie.comBack when Jack Mason (17-9) started fighting, there was an MMA show every couple months in the U.K.

Now, there are a couple a weekend.

On Saturday at Cage Warriors 45, he fights Chris Field (8-3) as an experienced veteran. But there’s no way he would have gotten into the sport now as he did when he was new to the game.

Cage Warriors 45 takes place at HMV Forum in London. The main card, including Mason vs. Fields (which is an opening-round matchup in Cage Warriors’ eight-man middleweight tournament), streams live and free on MMAjunkie.com beginning at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT).

When Mason says he was new to the game, he means really, really new. He claims that other than a few UFC events he glanced at in the 1990s, he’d never really watched an MMA bout before he got into the cage for the first time in 2002.

“I trained on any mats I could find in my friends’ garages,” he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “They were fighting MMA and asked me if I wanted to fight, and I said yeah.”

Because he had no idea what to expect, he wasn’t racked by nerves and won.

“I had absolutely no fear at all,” Mason said. “I’m much more nervous now going into a fight.”

That’s undoubtedly a product of his experience. Now 10 years into fighting, he knows exactly what can go wrong and how complicated it is to pull off a successful performance. He’s learned several lessons the hard way, as you can see by his early resume; four losses followed his first win.

Of course, there wasn’t a lot of help to go around. In the early 2000s, there were hardly any reputable MMA gyms in the U.K., and even the ones that were there looked nothing like those of today. Skill sets were still developing.

But when Mason found Tsunami Gym in Cambridge, England, things turned around. He was working with future staples of the U.K. scene, including Robbie Olivier and John Maguire (who now fights in the UFC’s welterweight division) and improving every day.

Mason now coaches other fighters on the Tsunami team. More young hopefuls come through the doors now than ever before, and plenty of them want to do what he did when he got started in MMA.

“There’s no way I would ever let them because the experience of the guys starting out now – they’ve probably been training two or three years – is completely different than it used to be,” Mason said. “I’m trying to help them learn from my mistakes.”

MMA is booming in the U.K., and Mason stands poised to capitalize on his veteran status. The talent keeps getting better, and he’s had some recent stumbles. But there’s still time for a turnaround.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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